WHO ARE WE

We are Selam and Andiy. After Natnael passed away we wanted to continue his task of teaching children about their country of origin and helping families to find their stories.
This blog is to teach the children that go abroad something about their birth country and to give to the adoptive parents a way to search the biological family of their child.
Contact us at:

Is important what you tell your children about themselves.

Saturday, April 27, 2013


ETHIOPIAN BIRDS

For the prople that have an special feeling for the birds can be interesting.

In Ethiopia there are many endemic animals, between them the red fox, the walia, the gelada baboons, all them big mamals. Well known everywhere. Instead often the people doesn’t know that there are many birds that are leaving only in ethiopia. There are many web sites where you can find Endemic Birds of Ethiopia.

I am not an expert about birds but one of my favorites is the Prince Ruspoli’s Turaco. See the picture below and enjoy googleing the other  ones!!






WORDS TO TELLTHE FEELINGS

Normally when someone learn a language is not the first thing to learn, but instead are words that are very important in the life… specially in the love stories as the mother and child love.


DESTA                                    Happiness

AZEN                                      Sadness

YDEBERAL                            Is boring

YASTELAL                             Is disgusting

AZNALEW                              I’m sorry

ENKWAN DES ALESH          Congratulations

THE COLORS OF THE FLAG

Before, the colors of the flag were in different order than now, the red was on the top and the green on the bottom. After Menelik the order of the colors has change. During Haile Sellassie Kingdom the flag had a lion on it. During Mengistu Haile Mariam government it was an arm to take its place, and now there is a star. Still now the most of the people like the flag of the lion, that was the symbol of the Solomonic dynasty.

The Ethiopian flag have basically three colors:

Arengwadé (green) means the fertility

Bicha (yellow) means the peace and the church

Kay (red) means the blood of the war

Thursday, April 11, 2013


GURSHA

In Ethiopia the people use to eat together using their hands.  I was speaking about it when I spoke about injera. The normal thing when the people do when there is a guest is to give a piece of injera with the best part of the sauce, or with meat or egg or whatever is better in the food. This way to offer the food is called gursha.

Gursha is offered directly to eat, it means the person who offer the gursha introduce it in the mouth of the one who receive it.
Is used to do also when someone comes near to a group that is eating and they want to offer a little food. That is a usage called “ennebela” (let us eat together).
If you go to Ethiopia and someone offers you a gursha just take it and enjoy the best food they can offer you!

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

DO YOU FIND THAT BIOLOGICAL FAMILIES ARE HAPPY TO HAVE THIS KIND OF CONTACT??

This is a question that and adoptive family asked me. I guess there are many families that ask themselves the same.

For me the answer is in capital letters: YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

May be the families here are some times extremely poor or sick or have other big reasons to prefer that their children grow up with more opportunities or chances… may be they are able to accept not to know anything else about their children forever praying for their good live. I call this one painful love…

But up to now I have never seen a mother that doesn’t want to see the pictures of her child or have news bout it.

Here there is a way of saying that is “yalmote sew ygenagnal” that means “ the person that haven’t die will appear” and it means somehow that there is hope to see someone one day.


Monday, April 1, 2013


INJERA OUR BREAD

All the people that know Ethiopia have listen about injera and hopefully have also taste it.

In Ethiopia is the base of our food. Injera is something people eat up to three times per day, is a kind of soft fermented flat bread. It has an special flavour and on the injera we place different sauces, vegetables and meats.

Traditionally the people eat together in a big dish using their hands, a nice way to share the daily life.

Injera is made preferently of teff, a cereal that have the smallest grain among the cultivated cereals. Is very nutrient and have a lot of iron, there is a joke speaking about injera that make fun on someone that in the airport that can not pass the metal control because of that!!


THE ETHIOPIA GREAT RUN 

As everyone knows Ethiopia is the born country of the best runners for long distances. One of the most loved runner is Haile Gebreselassie, he is the general manager of the Great Ethiopian Run, event hosted yearly in Addis Ababa that started in 2001. There are lots of runners witch participate in the great run, the streets of Addis are every year full of runners from professionals to just lovers.

Ethiopian people feel proud of the runners that represent our country, males and females. The most well known, a part of Haile Gebreselassie, starting from Abebe Bikila to Morif Efter, Tirunesh Dibaba, Kekenisa Bekele, Derartu Tulu, Kete Wami and others…

Abebe Bikila is the legendary first important runner in Ethiopia, he won twice the marathon in the Olympic games(Rome 1960 and Tokio in 1964) opening the door to the following runners. He was famous to run without shoes. 6 weeks before he won in Tokio he was operated and so he was not in his best!